Trash goat - an unusual but effective message to society (11 photos + 1 video)

This unusual sculpture, created by a "welding nun," has been helping clean up the city of Spokane for over 50 years.





Most cities simply ask their residents not to litter, but in one of the parks in American Spokane, city officials tried to make it fun by installing a statue of a goat eating trash.



The goat is made from pieces of copper and brass. Since its installation in 1974 as part of the World's Fair that year, the unique interactive goat statue has become a local landmark. The metal sculpture has a vacuum inside that allows it to "eat" small debris. The statue inhales almost any piece of trash that fits in its mouth. However, the quirkiness of the figure has not pleased some critics, such as a group of farmers who were offended by the implication that a dairy goat is capable of eating garbage.





The artist with her creation

The statue is the work of Sister Paula Mary Turnbull, who became famous in Spokane and beyond as the "welding nun." While living at the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary convent, Sister Paula spent more than eight decades creating and teaching art. She created her signature metal sculptures in the convent's welding shop. The nun was inspired to create "Trash Goat" after visiting a zoo where trash cans were fitted with animal-shaped lids. She took it a step further and built an entire animal.



At the metal trashman's 40th birthday party in 2014, the Parks Department reported that over the four decades of working at Riverfront Park, the goat had consumed so much trash that if it were laid out in a single line, it would form an 8-mile walkway. Paul's sister, then 93, was there and fed the goat a piece of birthday cake.



The nun passed away in 2018, but her legacy lives on through her work. In addition to the Trash Goat, Sister Paula's many sculptures still stand in Spokane: a metal Bigfoot at the local community college, a bear at the high school, and a number of other works at various churches and educational institutions.